Thank You for this Travel Day

by Matthew Eppinette, Director of Programs on January 24, 2018

We had a terrific Paul Ramsey Institute Consultation last weekend. We delved into one of Paul Ramsey’s books to look at several issues as we sought to understand not just where he landed ethically on the issues but to see how and why he came to those conclusions. In addition, we examined carefully the ways in which he expressed his conclusions in writing, how he went about persuading his readers that we can navigate through very complicated issues and come to understand how best to treat the sick patient as a fellow person.

Right now we’re in the process of distributing the reading assignments for our next Consultation, which will feature the work of this year’s Paul Ramsey Award recipient, Farr Curlin, M.D., of Duke University. Dr. Curlin will be joining us as a Guest Scholar for the Consultation. I am very much looking forward to a focused time of discussion of Dr. Curlin’s insights on the role and work of the physician at the bedside. In the evening, we will host our 14th Paul Ramsey Award Dinner. If you are at all able, please plan to join us on March 24 in Diablo, CA (full invitation to follow in a few days . . . watch this space!).

Following the Paul Ramsey Consultation, Jennifer and I spent two very focused days in the office that allowed us to have meetings with a number of people and work on a stack of paperwork that needed to be processed for the beginning of the new year (the less glamorous but very necessary side of running a non-profit organization). For me, today (Wednesday) is a travel day, so I’m working from the shared office space provided by our good friends at Southwest.

Jennifer and I want to be sure you know how grateful we are for your support of the work of The Center for Bioethics and Culture. Think of all you helped accomplish in 2017: you helped host a standing room only event, “Trading on the Female Body,” in New York; publish an important call for follow-up, research, and informed consent regarding egg “donation” in a prominent journal; recruit and begin a two-year course of study with a new cohort of Paul Ramsey Fellows; write and publish new e-books on egg and sperm “donation;” begin work on a new film telling the story of a surrogate who was lied to, lied about, almost died, and left nearly bankrupt; and much, much more.

In short, you make travel days like today possible. You enable us to take information on the vitally important bioethics issues of taking life, making life, and faking life to all the places it needs to go. Thank you!

Please know how truly grateful we are for your partnership with us. We are in this together!

In what ways can we be of assistance to you and those in your network? Jennifer or I would love to meet with your friends, speak to groups at your churches or civic organizations, and tell others about our important work in the area of bioethics. Would you be interested in hosting the CBC at an event? Please let us know at info@cbc-network.org or 925-407-2660.

There’s much work ahead, but please know we couldn’t do it without you!